Breaking Kingdom Hearts
by Cloud-Mercury07
Summary: Destroying Kingdom Hearts comes at a price. The heart is a double edged sword that must be tamed. Riku/Sora
1. Chapter 1 Returned Hearts

**Destroying Kingdom Hearts comes at a price. The heart is a burden that must be tamed. **

The auburn haired boy stood defensively, his knees bent low in an animal-like crouch, key blade raised in front of his face. Sora had taken this pose many a time, but this was the first that his breathing was completely easy and even in pace. Sky blue eyes locked gaze with the ever mysterious grey-blue eyes of his opponent, who nodded briskly in a solemn manner.

Sora opened his mouth to speak, trying to think up something witty to say before their battle began, but the words simply would not come. Then, with a flash of lilac-grey hair, Riku was beside him, swinging his weapon with all his might towards Sora's head.

The boy braced himself for the impact, gritting his teeth and clenching his free fist up into a tight ball. There surely wasn't any time to dodge, when the attack had been so stealthy. His eyes scrunched shut, obscuring his view of the rolling sea; which was crashing lazily on the golden sand.

After a few seconds of realising that there was no impact to his head, Sora cautiously opened one eye to reveal a frowning Riku, who had now lowered his own key blade.

"What's wrong with you, Sora? You promised this battle would be fun." he said, poking his friend gently in the forehead.

"Well how is this fun? You could've taken my head off with that swing!" Sora moaned, mimicking the expression that had crossed Riku's features when his weapon was merely inches from his best friend's head.

The lilac-grey haired boy winced slightly, his shoulders shrugging upwards from their usually slack position.

"Ugh, I really looked like that? Sorry. But hey, I wasn't going to kill you or anything. What do you take me for?" he joked, dropping his key blade to the sand in order to ruffle Sora's already untidy hair with both hands.

"Hey, jerk!" Sora pouted, taking the opportunity to grab Riku's key blade from the ground and poke him hard in the stomach with it. "Sora, you little cheat!"

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As he lay in bed, Sora remembered the "battle" with Riku at the beach and smiled nostalgically to himself. That had been about six months ago and only several days after he, Riku and Kairi had all played a part in destroying Kingdom Hearts for good. They had been happy, like it had been before Destiny Island had been attacked and they had been a little more naive and carefree.

Placing his hands behind his head, Sora stretched his legs out.

'Nothing to do today, nothing to do tomorrow… same old dull routine.' he thought to himself groggily. Life for Sora had been rather… normal, as of late. Since destroying Kingdom Hearts, Donald and Goofy had gone back to serving King Mickey at the Castle and he and his two best friends had returned to their home. He wasn't complaining, though, destroying Kingdom Hearts had been wonderful- to see Kairi again, as well as Riku was beyond what words could describe. There was just that small problem that was a consequence of destroying the world, which was that everybody got their hearts back.

In many, many ways, this was a beautiful thing to see, but hearts are complicated and emotions overflow when one loses sight of how they used to make them feel for others.

Sora, for one, remembered how he felt for Riku, as soon as Riku's true heart was returned to him and that had made him feel bad, because he was happier when those feelings dulled- his mind wasn't spinning round in girly confessions and _words. _

Then there was Kairi. Sora had never really seen Kairi as a potential partner, only as a mate, to fool around and have a laugh with, to make snide comments at because she was a female and that's what boys do. Now, however, he saw that she was… pretty. The sun highlighted her hair in so many magical fiery ways. 'Snap out of it. You like Riku, you've always liked Riku, not that he needs to know that.' Sora thought privately, lifting himself to stare out of his bedroom window.

Remembering the "battle" with Riku at the beach brought up another touchy issue inside his thoughts. 'That was the first time he gave me _that look.' he recalled. 'The look that makes me think… he really does…like me.' _


	2. Chapter 2 Anger Unleashed

'**The voice of Xehanort, who was ripping him apart…' **

Sweeping his marble coloured hair back over his pale forehead, Riku peered anxiously at his appearance in the mirror, blinking back at him from the bathroom wall. He was certainly getting thinner and more gaunt, not surprising really, since he hadn't been able to eat or sleep much in the past few months. The main, torturing reason for this flashed across his mind in the form of a rather short boy with auburn hair, stunning blue eyes and a huge cheeky grin. Not being able to help himself, the corners of his own mouth twitched at the image of Sora being so happy again. It had been what felt like an eternity since he had laid eyes on his friend.

Why did everything have to be so damn complicated? Surely there was a way to just thank Sora, leave it at that and then get on with his life? Yet Riku knew that there was nothing he could do to show his best friend exactly how grateful he was for saving his soul from everlasting darkness. Except maybe… tell Sora how much he cared about him, look after him every day… hold him… be there for him through everything. He scoffed aloud in the empty bathroom.

'Hah, that's ridiculous, Riku!' a voice in his head told him 'That's what _you _want from Sora, not what he wants from you. As if he even thinks about you in that way.'

'I know, but I have as much chance as anyone, right?' Riku argued with the pessimistic voice as he had done so many times previous to this, 'I've never heard Sora so much as talk about love, so maybe he's just not into that stuff yet.'

'Don't be a fool, he's already falling for the red-headed girl Kairi. You can see it, can't you, Riku? You can see in his eyes that he loves her. Do you think he would choose you over her? Never.'

With that, Riku felt his heart pound harder in his chest, pumping harder still at a rapid pace. His pupils dilated as he lost control of himself, his emotions overwhelming his entire being. He could sense nothing but hear the voice in his head, the voice of Xehanort, who was ripping him apart.

'Come back to the dark, Riku. You don't need these children, who cause you so much pain. Come back to the darkness…'

"NO!" Riku screamed, blood pumping round his ears like tribal drums. Suddenly, he lashed out, as if at Xehanort himself. He pounded a figure, unable to stop himself, to the ground, his vision blurred by all the stored up anger unleashed within his heart. Then he calmed very gradually, silently weeping until his vision had restored.

He found himself on his knees on the ground, the voice in his head temporarily absent. Blinking down at the ground, he realised who he had lashed out at. Someone he loved very much, his own mother. She sat huddled in the corner of the room, arms wrapped protectively around her knees, her left eye deep shades of black and purple. He crawled slowly over to her, embracing her in a tight hug from behind.

'Mum… I'm so sorry', he barely whispered past her fair hair, into her ear.

'I-it's okay, Riku honey, really. I'm fine.' She said, attempting to stop shaking and slowly standing upright. She brushed down her cooking apron in a matter-of-fact way and managed a watery smile. Riku could only stare blankly after her as she turned and walked out of the bathroom, her apron swishing behind her like usual.

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Several days later, Riku received an unexpected phone call from Kairi, who invited him to go to the beach with her and Sora. As he had not heard Xehanort's voice since the day he hit his own mother, he felt that it would be safe to attend. It might even be fun- the beach often allowed him to forget every trouble that he had. The waves of the dull sea, in all their simplicity, wiped away the painful memories that plagued Riku's dreams.

"So you're going to turn up, right? Sora will freak if you don't, we've really been missing out on some quality time together lately, don't you think?" Kairi asked innocently, down the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, okay, I'll be there. Don't worry." he replied.

There was some interference and crackling down the phone line before Riku heard Sora's cheery voice. "Hey, Riku! Long time no speak, huh? See you down the beach tomorrow at 6:00, okay?"

Riku sighed, half with relief and half with bitter sadness. "Sure, Sora. God it's good to hear your voice again."

At the other end of the conversation, Sora grew ever so slightly pink in the cheeks and suddenly felt all hot and bothered. Rational sentences failed him and so all he could muster to blurt out was: "O-okay then boy gay." before erupting into spontaneous nervous giggles.


	3. Chapter 3 Running Away

"**He'd never wanted to kill someone so badly before…" **

Sora and Kairi strolled down the beach, their footprints following closely behind them. Kairi was laughing merrily at one of Sora's famous 'dumb' moments that they had been discussing. Again, Sora couldn't help but notice the beaming sunlight bouncing off her hair, the way her lips parted slightly when she smiled. He swallowed convulsively, feeling guilty for unbeknown reasons that he had not spared a thought for Riku since the previous night, when he had embarrassingly spluttered out a mixed-up insult during a phone conversation with the lilac haired male.

The two friends finally stopped walking when they reached an area of palm trees. Kairi signalled that this is where they should stay, so Sora slung the beach towels over his shoulder and placed them on the sand. Both sat cross-legged, watching the waves roll into the shore.

"Do you think Riku will be here soon?" Sora asked casually.

"Huh? Oh… yeah, probably." Kairi replied, remembering with a jolt that the third member was due to join them.

"Speak of the devil!" a voice called from in amongst the trees. Kairi stood up immediately, bouncing up to hug Riku with full enthusiasm. His strong hands clamped around her back as he murmured his greeting, but his eyes were fully focused on the auburn-haired boy, who had slowly risen from where he sat and was now shuffling his feet in the sand.

Kairi finally let go, still complimenting Riku on how well he was looking.

"You too, Kairi." Riku replied, not paying her much attention. She sat down quickly, ruffling through her bag for sun cream. Sora inhaled and stepped awkwardly forwards, holding out a hand for Riku to shake it. The lilac-haired boy rolled his eyes and embraced Sora in a crushing hug. The sky-blue eyes widened at first, but then softened, thankful that things still appeared to be the same as before. He considered that he had often wished Riku would embrace him in this way, but yet it did not feel the same as it had in his fantasies- Riku had not confessed undying love.

"Well, it's great to see you two again." Riku said, releasing Sora from his grip.

"Isn't it?" Kairi flirted, with a small wink. "I'm going to go get us some ice-cream, so hand over your munny!"

Sora and Riku both fished 50 munny out of their wallets and handed it to Kairi, who giggled and skipped off into the distance.

"She seems happy!" Sora noted, fully aware that he and Riku were very much alone. Riku grunted his approval, his brow furrowed deeply as though in deep concentration.

"Riku… are you ok?"

The lilac-haired boy attempted to drown out the deep, maddening voice inside his head that was teasing him about Sora's love for Kairi once again. He stretched, shifting his weight onto his hands that were placed behind him. Riku nodded, assuring that he was, in fact, perfectly alright.

"You know you can talk to me, about anything…" Sora whispered gently. He blinked slowly, glancing at Riku's hands.

'Maybe if I just…'

He reached across the sand, placing his own hand gently on top of Riku's. Even through the gloves, he could feel the shocking coldness emitting from them. Riku was staring at Sora, unsure what he meant by this action. Xehanort was pushing him to make Sora his, to take full advantage of the situation so that Kairi would be forgotten. He could have, would have ignored these orders, had Sora not leant closer and pressed his other hand gingerly against Riku's forehead.

Suddenly, all the anger and passion and wrath of Xehanort burst forth and Riku forcibly smashed his lips against Sora's. Sora struggled, surprised by the violence behind Riku's actions, let alone that Riku was actually kissing him. It was not how he had imagined first kissing his friend. He had imagined tenderness, cautious shy experimentation, yet here was Riku biting down hard on his lower lip, his tongue commandeering and just too dominant.

In a matter of seconds, Sora finally managed to break free, pushing Riku away as he heard three simultaneous dull 'thuds'. He turned to see Kairi, eyes wide and face full of alarm. Their three sea-salt ice creams were now half-buried in sand, wholly inedible. The auburn haired boy scrambled on his knees to stand and then ran up to his fiery red-headed friend. He consciously pressed a finger against his lip, smearing a small speck of blood away against his clothing. Kairi was shaking, not sure how to react to such an unexpected situation. Sora gripped her by the shoulders, steadying her.

"I think we should go home, Kairi." he spoke softly.

He expected her to agree, but she only opened her mouth in a small "o" shape as a loud whistling passed Sora's ear. Using highly quick thinking, he shoved Kairi to the ground. Luckily, the key blade that had been swung at her missed by several inches as Sora had acted using initiative. Riku breathed heavily, rasping with a lower tone than his own. His eyes were vacant, as though he had been possessed by some other being.

Sora whipped out his own key blade in a flash, standing in front of Kairi protectively. The girl was whimpering, wearing a pleading expression which she shot at Riku. He bent his head back and laughed.

"Do not be foolish, Sora. Let me have the girl." He'd never wanted to kill someone so badly before.

"Never!"

"Then you do love her…"

Sora froze. He said nothing, and that was all the other two needed to hear in order to find their answer.

"You should love me!" Riku screamed maliciously, leaping forth to strike at Kairi. The two boy's key blades clashed together. Riku smirked, pressing their bodies closely together.

"Kiss me, Sora." he ordered. Xehanort was in almost complete control now, but Riku's goals and hidden emotions still piloted his actions.

"I… can't." Sora forced from himself, before swishing his key blade round to hit Riku just below his left ribcage. The blow had the desired effect and Riku flew sideways, sprawling to the floor. Sand spiralled up around him in clouds as his frame plunged into it. His eyes lightened, returning to their natural greyish colour. He shook his head to regain his thought. Looking up, he saw Sora dragging Kairi by the hand and they were running away. Running away from him. His stomach lurched and his chest clenched painfully as he saw the terrified and disgusted expression etched into the girl's features, tears streaming down her face and what hurt him the most was: he knew that Sora's face would look exactly the same.


End file.
